The CMRAE Graduate Laboratory

The Center's principal teaching facility, the Graduate Laboratory, is located at MIT. It is the site where formal classes are held in the examination and analysis of archaeological and ethnographic materials: for example, ceramics, rock, metal and metallic ores and slags, bone, phytoliths and other macro-plant parts, and soils. The laboratory is designed as an assembly of complementary facilities: a preparation lab, an examination-microscopy lab, a photomicrography documentation lab, a materials reference-and-standards collection unit, and a computer facility.

Each facility is outfitted with equipment and instruments necessary for the microscopic examination, analysis, and documentation of the broad range of materials common to archaeological investigation.

The Graduate Laboratory is also available for use by graduate students and post doctoral fellows from all the consortium institutions for master's degree, doctoral dissertation, and post doctoral research.

CMRAE is especially concerned that students who work in the Graduate Laboratory are prepared for the rigorous standards maintained in the facility. We observe the strictest standards of procedure and safety. The teaching faculty, assisted by the CMRAE Laboratory Supervisor, instruct students in formal, class sessions, and the Laboratory Supervisor works with individual students during extra, scheduled hours. The laboratory notebook and oral presentation of individual research projects constitute a major basis for assessing the accomplishments of students participating in CMRAE courses.